The recording space, which closed in 2011 before being turned into sound stages, holds a special place in Grohl's heart because Nirvana's "Nevermind" was born there. As indicated by the number of rock stars appearing in the trailer for "Sound City," a lot of other iconic albums were created there too — the first being Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush."

Interviews with Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Lars Ulrich, Trent Reznor and a plethora of other famous musicians praise the tape-based studio and then mourn its downfall due to the rise of digital. Grohl himself poses a question that is, perhaps, the central theme of his directorial debut: "In this age of technology where you can manipulate anything, how do we retain that human element?"